World Cup grows pathway for our players and coaches: Raiwalui

It’s like killing two birds with one stone. The Rugby World Cup is not only growing pathways for our local players, but coaching staff as well.

This was what Flying Fijians head coach Simon Raiwalui said about how local coaches like Senirusi Seruvakula were coping.

“It is great to have a local coach like Seni in as an assistant coach,” Raiwalui told SUNsports.

“He (Seruvakula) is responsible for our carry clean part of our play. We need to grow our pathways for local staff as well as players.”

Seruvakula, is the top local-based coach. He guided the Fijian Drua to win the then Australia National Rugby Championship (NRC) in 2018 and the Fijiana women’s rugby team to last year’s World Cup in New Zealand.

The other local-based coaches assisting Raiwalui are kicking coach, Seremaia Bai, along with strength and conditioning coach, Naca Cawanibuka. Team mentor Reverend Jioji Rinakama is a former national rugby forwards coach and manager Viliame Gadolo.

Raiwalui, a former Flying Fijians captain, had his first coaching role with Racing Metro 92 in 2012 before moving to Stade Francais where he led them to win the Top 14 title in 2015. He then coached Biarritz before becoming the Australian Wallabies forwards coach for the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan.

The scrum coach Graham Dewes is a former Flying Fijians prop who is Tanihwa Northland’s forwards coach in New Zealand. The club plays in the National Provincial Championship. He is one of the students of former All Blacks scrum guru Mike Cron.

FITNESS SHOCKER 

Meanwhile, one of the highlights of the Flying Fijians performance at the RWC, is the ability to play for 80 minutes.

This is not what the Flying Fijians are generally known for.

They scored two late tries and dropped a potential try to bow out 26- 32.

Against Australia, they showed power to dominate the final scrum to secure a 22-15 win. Despite a scrappy play against Georgia, the Waisea Nayacalevu-captained side stuck to their task to score a late penalty and a converted try come out victorious.

Raiwalui has attributed this to the strength and conditioning coaches of David Silvester, Cawanibuka and Ben Cousins.

“David has been integral from the start of the campaign when I took over, aligning our physical preparations to what we need on the field when we play. David, Naca and Ben have been excellent as strength and conditioning team,” he said.

Silvester has over 25 years of experiences in the field starting in the military where he had successes with the Royal Marines. He has worked with England rugby team in reaching two RWC finals, Great Britain rugby league, Exeter Chiefs, Ireland A and New Zealand Maoris.

Cawanibuka worked with the Fiji men’s rugby sevens team that won the gold medals at the Rio and Tokyo Olympic Games. He is now the Drua’s strength and conditioning coach in Super Rugby Pacific, where they reached the quarterfinal in their second year of competition.

Cousins, is a sport scientist, responsible for sport and data science practices. He has worked with top clubs like Bristol Bears and London Irish.

Story by: Leone Cabenatabua  - leonec@fijisun.com.fj